Historical and cultural sites

Turkey's
humanized landscape is inseparable from its culture. Nevertheless, to the
outsider, Turkey gives a new meaning to wilderness,
because even in the most inaccessible or isolated parts (such as the high
mountain tops or the secret places in the valleys) the visitor remains
with the feeling that sometime in history this place, now wild and untended,
has been the home to civilizations with settled villages and city life
for nine thousand years in Anatolia.

These were people of different origin, coming in
waves and mingling with those already settled, each time creating a new
synthesis. Between 2000 B.C. to 1500 A.D., this landscape was the center
of world civilization. Interpretation of the world scene today is predicated
upon our understanding of what took place on this landscape during the
last four millennia, and which is now manifested in the ruins and monuments
which adorn the landscape.

Up
until the advent of modernity (which in Turkey is
associated with the comprehensive highway program of the 1950's) the landscape
had remained as it was through millennia. When you see a replica of one
of the first agrarian villages in the world, dating back to almost 7,000
B.C., in the Anatolian Civilizations Museum
in Ankara, you cannot miss the similarity between
this prototype and all those others that you become what we call the vernacular.
When you have got something that works, why change it?

In Anatolia, the settlement
pattern is more or less how it was during the time of the ancient civilizations.
There is a good chance that the road you are traveling on is the same one
on which great warriors of the East and the West trod and colorful caravans
passed along, and couriers of mail or secret treaties galloped. Perhaps
it is the same road traveled by St. Paul and his
disciples or by Sufis spreading divine knowledge.
Perhaps Alexander the Great or King
Croesus fought against their enemies on the same spot you are traveling.

Graceful aqueducts built by the Romans made urban
concentrations possible. Bridges built by Sinan
and other Ottoman architects dot the countryside
and are still used for the safe passage of goods and services. Caravanserais
dating back to the Seljuk Empire of the 11th century
offered sanctuary and relief to weary travelers. You can even stay in a
caravanserai,
for several have been restored into luxury hotels. Many Medresses
are also in good conditions, mostly used as museums today.

Then there are the lesser places, both sacred and
ordinary, but with profound meaning: monasteries, tombs oflocal
saints,
heroes, artists or poets, mosques,
churches, walls, fortresses, palaces, fountains,
and cemeteries. The hillsides are covered with broken pieces of ancient
pottery, contemporary walls often have corner stones which may date back
to antiquity. Children play and sheep graze amidst fragile remains. Until
very recently Fairy Chimneys in Cappadocia were
used by villagers as cold storage for their food or wine cellars.

The very richness of the landscape poses grave
challenges for historic preservation in Turkey.
Good progress has been made in safeguarding the integrity of the most important
sites, and work is ongoing to excavate, catalogue and preserve the
country's tremendous legacy. Strict laws prevent the export of antiquities.

Many tours can be arranged in Turkey,
there are very good land and air connections between the cities and historical
sites. For detailed itineraries and sample tours, please
Click Here.